Advertising that is directed at children is estimated at over $15 billion annually which is about 2.5 times as much as it used it be in 1992(Center for a New American Dream, 2012). These days children are targeted by marketers because they are the biggest and the most profitable market. It’s therefore important to assess whether targeting them is ethical or not. This paper will explore the reasons as to why kids are being targeted by marketers. I will argue that kids should not be targeted because they will believe anything and everything that they see on TV or internet. The first part of the paper will focus on how obesity is the result of how companies use marketing to promote unhealthy food. The second part of the paper will then focus on
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“The majority of parents in a recent poll admitted they are concerned their children are growing up too quickly, and 77% blamed the web” (Victoria Woollaston, 2014). About 15-20 years if you walked into an elementary school and you saw the girls you could tell they were young, nowadays with all the commercialization the young girls are starting to dress older than their age. Girls were supposed to be taught to be nurturing and caring at a younger age, not what the media has defined girls to be (Tepperman and Curtis, 2013). They are also playing games which is full of violence at such an early age that their childhood is going away. With kids playing games full of violence at such an early age, they tend to grow up to be aggressive and resolve their issues with violence which is obviously a problem because violence shouldn’t be the answer to anything (Alison, 2008). Finally, media has a massive role in influencing the kids the way they want them to act and behave by promoting it on TV and Internet without parents having any influence on their …show more content…
Parents can’t supervise their children 24/7 so there are times when they are either watching TV alone or on the internet playing games. That is the place for marketers to target these children and get them interested in their product at a young age. “Marketers plant the seeds of brand recognition in very young children in the hopes that the seeds will grow into lifetime relationship; According to the center for a new American dream, babies as young as six months of age can form mental images of corporate logos and mascots”(………). As kids grow up they will continue to hold the companies services for longer because they grew up with it. For example, if a 2 year old boy watches a cartoon on TV and during the commercials he comes across transformers toy, it will eventually get in his head and he will ask his parents for transformers toy. The kid will continue to buy different types of them until he is too old for them. It doesn’t end there though because when the boy gets older and has a son of his own he will buy him transformers toys because he feels it’s essential for his kid because it was once essential for him. This is an issue because these marketers will continue to convince children to get a product and with the kids buying power the parents will most probably buy it, the main issue though is the fact that some households
“The majority of parents in a recent poll admitted they are concerned their children are growing up too quickly, and 77% blamed the web” (Victoria Woollaston, 2014). About 15-20 years if you walked into an elementary school and you saw the girls you could tell they were young, nowadays with all the commercialization the young girls are starting to dress older than their age. Girls were supposed to be taught to be nurturing and caring at a younger age, not what the media has defined girls to be (Tepperman and Curtis, 2013). They are also playing games which is full of violence at such an early age that their childhood is going away. With kids playing games full of violence at such an early age, they tend to grow up to be aggressive and resolve their issues with violence which is obviously a problem because violence shouldn’t be the answer to anything (Alison, 2008). Finally, media has a massive role in influencing the kids the way they want them to act and behave by promoting it on TV and Internet without parents having any influence on their …show more content…
Parents can’t supervise their children 24/7 so there are times when they are either watching TV alone or on the internet playing games. That is the place for marketers to target these children and get them interested in their product at a young age. “Marketers plant the seeds of brand recognition in very young children in the hopes that the seeds will grow into lifetime relationship; According to the center for a new American dream, babies as young as six months of age can form mental images of corporate logos and mascots”(………). As kids grow up they will continue to hold the companies services for longer because they grew up with it. For example, if a 2 year old boy watches a cartoon on TV and during the commercials he comes across transformers toy, it will eventually get in his head and he will ask his parents for transformers toy. The kid will continue to buy different types of them until he is too old for them. It doesn’t end there though because when the boy gets older and has a son of his own he will buy him transformers toys because he feels it’s essential for his kid because it was once essential for him. This is an issue because these marketers will continue to convince children to get a product and with the kids buying power the parents will most probably buy it, the main issue though is the fact that some households